Dr. Erica Anderson explains what to expect after labiaplasty. The local anesthetic wears off in 6-8 hours, so have oral pain medication ready. Swelling and bruising last about a week; skip baths for 1-2 weeks but can swim after 5-7 days.
Questions this video answers
About 6–8 hours after the procedure.
About once a day or when the area feels dry or irritated (not after every bathroom use).
Avoid baths for the first 1–2 weeks; do not use hot tubs until seen at recovery.
Approximately 5–7 days post-operatively (but avoid hot tubs/baths).
Up to about one week.
Chapters
Hi, I'm Dr. Erica Anderson and I am the body plastic surgeon here at the Naderi Center. And what I want to go through today is your post operative care instructions. If you've had a labioplasty, you've woken up in the recovery room and you're getting ready to head home. Now I have used a long acting pain medication in the incision site, so you should be relatively comfortable. The area will be swollen and will feel swollen. The but your pain requirement initially may not be that bad. It will tend to throb as that numbing medication wears away. And that's about six to eight hours after the procedure. So have your pain medication ready, but only use it if you need to and again use your anti nausea medication as well if you need to. Now your incisions are all closed with an absorbable suture and there's really no care that's required of your incision. I will put a little ointment on there at surgery and you'll be given that tube of ointment to use for later. But you do not need to apply it after every time you use the bathroom, but instead maybe once a day or if it feels dry or if it's a little irritated, that's really when you want to apply some ointment, but otherwise just continue your normal hygiene as you would. I would remind you just after urination, blot the area gently. And after you've had a bowel movement, just make sure you wipe from front to back to avoid any contamination of the incision site. Now if you've had some fat grafting done to the external labia, you can be prepared for pretty significant swelling. And even with the internal labia they might be somewhat swollen, but not to the degree that the outer will. You'll be bruised, you'll have potentially some drainage at the incision sites, but all the incisions on the external skin will be covered. And again the sutures are dissolvable on the inner labia. You can shower per normal. I would have you avoid any baths for the first one to two weeks and then no hot tubs. But you could consider going swimming probably five to seven days post operatively. But again not submerging in a hot tub or your own bathtub at this point until I see you for recovery. As far as activity, it's really up to you. Try to minimize some activity early in the first few days, but once you feel pretty good, you can resume all your normal activities initially in the first couple of days. Ice will help particularly that first day and that first night, so you could apply some ice in and around the perineal area for comfort. But after one or two days, you don't really need to do that anymore. As far as in your underwear, you should wear a panty liner for the first few days. The in surgery, we'll put a thick panty liner in, but you can transition to a more normal panty liner to handle any drainage and you can expect to see drainage for up to a week. That drainage can be yellow, it can be blood tinged. Those are all normal. And at some point when the stitches start to dissolve, you may see remnants of the stitches actually on that pad. So just keep a pad in your underwear for that first week. I will see you one week after surgery, one to two weeks after surgery. But if you have any questions in between the surgery procedure and when I see you for your post op, feel free to call the office and let us know what questions you might have. Happy to answer those over the phone or provide you some additional guidance.
